Tom Clancy's The Division Guide: The Dark Zone

There is an area in Tom Clancy’s The Division that contains plenty of valuable items and serves as a perfect ground for any kind of PvE/PvP battles – The Dark Zone. Unlike the rest of Manhattan, the enemies in The Dark Zone are way more dangerous, even at initial levels of difficulty.

But nothing is more dangerous than a group of real players that roam the same streets as you do. Is it worth going then? Absolutely yes! You will not find weapons and gear as good as in The Dark Zone anywhere else, so it’s better to take some time, level up, gather a squad of good players and start pillaging those loot crates. This guide will help you get through it.

Also, before going into The Dark Zone you may need to check out a few more tips:

Navigating The Dark Zone

The Dark Zone is surrounded by a wall, which you can climb over to get inside, but you can’t use the same trick if you decide to leave the area. So, if you want to get out, first you need to locate special checkpoints that can be found along the wall.

Every checkpoint has a vendor, who can sell you special weapons and gear, which you can take outside The Dark Zone. However, if you try to leave the place with the contaminated loot you’ve found inside, then it will be destroyed.

But there is a way to get that precious loot out anyway – it’s called extraction. This means that you can call a helicopter that arrives at a certain location on the map – the extraction zone. After locating the extraction zone, you need to send up a flare, wait for a countdown to finish, and attach your gathered loot to the helicopter rope. You will find your Dark Zone gear later at the Base of Operations.

You can take cover in special safe rooms that can be found all over The Dark Zone. When your group enters one of these rooms no other group will be able to enter it. There you can resupply ammo and other items at the vendor. It also has multiple exits, so you can leave the room in the safest way possible.

Exploring The Dark Zone

All the valuables can be found inside the treasure chests that are scattered all over the zone. You will find three types of chests. The smaller ones can be easily opened by any type of player, the bigger ones can be opened only if you have a certain Dark Zone rank and the largest ones require a key. Also, these big chests are often guarded by the enemies, which you need to eliminate before opening the chest.

But where do you find the key? Well, they can be obtained only through killing high-level NPCs or other players. You should also be aware that other players may want to kill you for the keys and loot as well, so be very careful at all times.

Players can easily go rogue in The Dark Zone, which means that they can kill anyone they want, and even create a whole group of rogue agents. The most valuable targets are the ones who wear a yellow bag – this indicates that they have contaminated loot. So, if you or any of your group members carries a yellow bag - guard them as well as you can.

How PvP works in The Dark Zone

As soon as you decide to kill another player in The Dark Zone you immediately get the status of a rogue agent, and you even have a special rogue rank with a bounty attached to your head.

There are 5 rogue ranks and by achieving rank 5 you will see a five minute countdown that resets your status. You need to survive those five minutes or else other players will be able to easily find you and after they kill you, they will be able to take your loot.

This can easily happen because the game gives an advantage to other players by marking you on the map, so everybody knows your exact location. That’s why you have to be sure that you know what you’re doing before going rogue.

On the other hand you can hunt other rogue agents, which is a much better position to be in. First of all, you don’t get any penalties for killing rogue agents, and secondly, you can grab all that sweet loot and earn lots of experience points.

Essential tips and tricks

Upgrade your Medical skills

The first thing you need to do before going to The Dark Zone is to upgrade your medical skill wing. You need to be able to heal yourself and other members of your group as quickly and effectively as possible. There are lots of contaminated areas within the zone, so this is very important.

Suppress enemy scanners

On top of that, modify the Pulse ability of your medical wing. You want the Scrambler mod activated in The Dark Zone to suppress enemy scans. In this way they will not be able to detect you in the hideout. Also, it can warn you if you’ve been scanned. Another great tactic is using EMP grenades, which deactivates all scanning abilities of your enemies.

Protect your extractions

The last thing to remember is that extraction is an open process. This means that you can intervene in the extraction zone of other players or you can get attacked when you try to extract loot yourself. Also, if you happen to come across the extraction, you can quickly run up to the rope and attach your own loot as well, unless other players stop you from doing it.

The Dark Zone is not the best place to start with in Tom Clancy's The Division, but when you achieve at least level 10, you can start checking it out. In time you will understand the rules of engagement inside the zone much better, so keep going back and don’t be afraid to make mistakes.

Have you tried playing in The Dark Zone? Share your experiences in the comments section below.